We live in a world full of rules. At times, when we struggle with authority, this can be aggravating. At other times, rules can be comforting because they protect us. In a recent experience, I noticed myself hating the rules that were blocking my goal: I wanted my son to be allowed, with his teammates, to compete at the State 2A Cross-Country Championship. A rule, unfortunately misrepresented by officials, stood in the way. This angered me a great deal, and to be honest, I find myself still struggling at times as I work through the process of accepting that things did not turn out the way I planned.
We use rules for order, and they are necessary for that purpose. However, sometimes the rules become downright excessive. It's almost ridiculous (perhaps it is at times) how many rules we have in society. We sometimes make rules on top of rules in an effort to cover all of our bases. It becomes a control issue. We try to prevent anything "bad" from happening with well-meaning rules, but they often wind up not working as we planned. More often than not, an increase in rules spurs more of a likelihood that people will try to break the rules. We are perpetual loop-hole seekers, or line-steppers (as Charlie Murphy once said).
Church-life is no different. Over time, just as the Pharisees did years ago, we have accumulated more and more rules. Do this, don't do that. We fall for the misguided notion, like the rest of society that we live in, that more rules will lead to morality, making people behave. It just doesn't work out that way. The harder we try to follow the rules, the more we miss the mark.
Our rules, of course, are just a faint, blurry reflection of God's Law. God revealed His Law a long time ago to His people. Since then, we have attempted to add to it (and take away from it at times) in order to make it into something we can follow. The truth is, we can't follow God's Law, and we certainly can't follow all the rules we've piled on top of it. The rules simply are not enough. They are not the answer. No matter how hard we try, we find over and over that we are incapable of keeping the Law. And our rules, although they are necessary to an extent and helpful, just don't provide the protection and morality that we often hope they will.
What is missing with our rules? What is missing when we strive to follow God's Law? Grace. When we are so stuck in our position regarding a rule, things that only Grace can grow in us (things like love, patience, and mercy) fall to the wayside. Jesus once said, "Which of you, having a son or an ox that has fallen into a well on the Sabbath day, will not immediately pull him out?" Although the obsessive rule-follower might say, we can't break the rule of resting on the Sabbath, Grace screams out of love, "You're son needs you! Help him out of the jam he is in!".
Obviously, God's Law regarding rest is important to follow, but there are times when other things become the priority. We only realize this when we are comfortably residing in His Grace. The Law is good, and rules can be good...but when Grace is absent, they are all a curse. When we are pushing ourselves to be good by "doing all the right things" and "not doing the wrong things", we are missing Grace, which is the one thing that gifts us with what we really need. Relying on Christ's fulfillment of the Law is the only way to fulfill it, not attempting to keep it ourselves. And mysteriously, when we truly follow Him, we are more apt to fall right in line with what the Law states. When we trust Him, we also love, forgive, work, rest, and worship the One who has freely given us His Grace.
And for me and my recent bad experience with rules and those enforcing them, Grace is the answer here as well for my anger and hurt. I must continue the fight to trust the One who is Sovereign. I must remind myself of the truth that He is greater than any decisions made by a human governing body. Not only that, but He is able to work far greater things out of a situation than any plan I could come up with, even when I felt so strongly that mine was the only way things could be made right. Fighting for my son and his teammates was an honor and a blessing, and I don't regret it one bit. Now I must trust that One who is infinitely mightier than me has been, and is currently, fighting for them as they move forward after this difficult time in their lives.
No comments:
Post a Comment